I painted my brick Backyard wall without stucco..not a good look (worth, about)
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I think block walls "painted" with shrubs and vines, ie covered/blocking the wall, looks even better. Lots of different shades of green, textures, flowering, etc. And pick the right shrubs and maintenance is a non-issue and water use can be ultra-low.
We have tons of plants, shrubs and palms lining our back brick wall. We were trying to figure out what color would make the pinks, reds, yellow and purple of the different plants pop the best? Ideas? Would it last with seepage coming through the other side in spots from back neighbor or would we be repainting all the time?
We have tons of plants, shrubs and palms lining our back brick wall. We were trying to figure out what color would make the pinks, reds, yellow and purple of the different plants pop the best? Ideas? Would it last with seepage coming through the other side in spots from back neighbor or would we be repainting all the time?
oh boy, you have tons of options. One thing you have to carefully consider is your sun exposure being so close to a block fence as they throw lots of reflected heat as you know. You need plants that can take reflected heat from the wall, at least while they are getting up in size to cover the wall. For nice screen plants, shrubs, that require very low water and can take reflected heat are Green hopseed, Lemon Bottlebrush(beautiful red flowers, especially in spring), jojoba shrub, texas sage, etc.
The lemon bottlebrush, hopseed, and jojoba shrub are evergreen.
The lemon bottle brush shrub is stunning when it's all in bloom. Google some pics of it. Not the easiest plant to find but I got mine at Lowe's last year in 5 gallon size.
Sounds like given you have lots of color already, perhaps something like a hopseed which is a nice gren color/very think shrub would be a nice backdrop plant. They will make your block wall disappear. I like to do that with our plantings in our yard, layer various shrubs. And use trees that throw filtered shade and put plants and shrubs underneath them that can't take the full sun as well. You can plant just about anything in such a place. We have a few palo verdes and they throw filtered shade all around it including the bock wall which allows me to cover that section of the wall with just about any vine/shrub I can think of. I like some plants like Crap Myrtle, orange bells as nice screens, but they aren't evergreen(or not an evergreen when we get frost) so I'll plant it as a forward plant in front of another evergreen if I want to maintain blocking something, ie a block wall.
I was a little confused on your statement:
"Would it last with seepage coming through the other side in spots from back neighbor or would we be repainting all the time?"
My plan with plants is about not having to paint or see a fence and doing the maintenance involved by covering the block wall with plants. If you already have a painted wall, covering it with plants will prevent the need for future maintenance if you cover it with evergreen plants/shrubs. Please let me know if I misunderstood what you are asking.
This site is a good start on various shrubs and vines, watering needs, if they take reflected heat, growth rate, etc.
Crape Myrtles are beautiful but require more water and aren't evergreen. Not sure on south/west wall reflected heat. Google some pics of them to see there flowering in various colors. They love our heat.
oh boy, you have tons of options. One thing you have to carefully consider is your sun exposure being so close to a block fence as they throw lots of reflected heat as you know. You need plants that can take reflected heat from the wall, at least while they are getting up in size to cover the wall. For nice screen plants, shrubs, that require very low water and can take reflected heat are Green hopseed, Lemon Bottlebrush(beautiful red flowers, especially in spring), jojoba shrub, texas sage, etc.
The lemon bottlebrush, hopseed, and jojoba shrub are evergreen.
The lemon bottle brush shrub is stunning when it's all in bloom. Google some pics of it. Not the easiest plant to find but I got mine at Lowe's last year in 5 gallon size.
Sounds like given you have lots of color already, perhaps something like a hopseed which is a nice gren color/very think shrub would be a nice backdrop plant. They will make your block wall disappear. I like to do that with our plantings in our yard, layer various shrubs. And use trees that throw filtered shade and put plants and shrubs underneath them that can't take the full sun as well. You can plant just about anything in such a place. We have a few palo verdes and they throw filtered shade all around it including the bock wall which allows me to cover that section of the wall with just about any vine/shrub I can think of. I like some plants like Crap Myrtle, orange bells as nice screens, but they aren't evergreen(or not an evergreen when we get frost) so I'll plant it as a forward plant in front of another evergreen if I want to maintain blocking something, ie a block wall.
I was a little confused on your statement:
"Would it last with seepage coming through the other side in spots from back neighbor or would we be repainting all the time?"
My plan with plants is about not having to paint or see a fence and doing the maintenance involved by covering the block wall with plants. If you already have a painted wall, covering it with plants will prevent the need for future maintenance if you cover it with evergreen plants/shrubs. Please let me know if I misunderstood what you are asking.
This site is a good start on various shrubs and vines, watering needs, if they take reflected heat, growth rate, etc.
Crape Myrtles are beautiful but require more water and aren't evergreen. Not sure on south/west wall reflected heat. Google some pics of them to see there flowering in various colors. They love our heat.
Please don't be mad but I think I miss-read your original post. I thought we were talking about what color to paint a wall to make the plants in front of it "pop" more. Good info though and I did read through it. The lemon bottle brush shrub, is that the same as a little John with those amazing red/gold blooms?
We have Palms, Lantana, fire sticks and Hibiscus lining the wall near the pool. Low litter type plants only since I maintain our pool. They were planted in November so maybe if I give them a few years, they be blocking more of the wall than I think and painting won't be needed!
We have Texas sage in the other part of the yard opposite the pool and I love when those things bloom. Ours are still small but I can't wait to get them big and bushy. Great info in your posts though and love your plant selection.
I would consider this but our neighbor on the backside has seepage to our side that is visible in large sections most of the time. Not sure why but I think his grass butts up right to the wall. I would guess that effects stucco and even just paint?
Tell them to move their grass.
No but really, that's what we had to do with the neighbor behind us because we were having the exact same issue. The planted grass right up to the fence in his yard and it was causing that white stuff to come through the fence. The CC&R HOA rules say that you can't plant grass within 3' of a fence so we asked if he could change it and he did.
No but really, that's what we had to do with the neighbor behind us because we were having the exact same issue. The planted grass right up to the fence in his yard and it was causing that white stuff to come through the fence. The CC&R HOA rules say that you can't plant grass within 3' of a fence so we asked if he could change it and he did.
I was hoping you'd chime in as I remember your backyard project and you did things awesome. I can't confirm it but when I get on my roof to clean the solar panels, his "grass" just looks like it makes up his whole yard. It's spotty, crappy, not well maintained and I bet it goes right to the wall. We've had issues with their dog which were finally rectified (anonymously), so I am not sure how another complaint from someone (this time he'll know) is going to work. Overall they are quiet neighbors, although I don't know them. I'd hate for them to feel victimized from another complaint and start doing some really annoying things!
I like the idea of enough shrubbery to cover most of the wall though. Just not sure how long that would take, if at all, with our already planted plants in that area.
Please don't be mad but I think I miss-read your original post. I thought we were talking about what color to paint a wall to make the plants in front of it "pop" more. Good info though and I did read through it. The lemon bottle brush shrub, is that the same as a little John with those amazing red/gold blooms?
We have Palms, Lantana, fire sticks and Hibiscus lining the wall near the pool. Low litter type plants only since I maintain our pool. They were planted in November so maybe if I give them a few years, they be blocking more of the wall than I think and painting won't be needed!
We have Texas sage in the other part of the yard opposite the pool and I love when those things bloom. Ours are still small but I can't wait to get them big and bushy. Great info in your posts though and love your plant selection.
ugh, sorry about misreading what you were asking. We both zig/zagged each other...at least we both missed consistently But glad it might have given a few ideas and perhaps to others.
No, the lemon bottle brush shrub is a completely different specie. Same bloom look/color but the little john is a much smaller shrub.
but imho, if I were going to paint my stucco/plain brick block fence, I'd pick an earth tone, a brown or type of brick red maybe to make the plants blend in yet provide some backdrop interest. I've seen people do brighter colors and they look nice but it's not my preference....I tend to favor something that blends a bit more, pulls/glues everything together.
Looking at your pic, you have lots of possibilities on backdrop plants if you want to go that route and toss the idea of painting your wall. Those lantanas are low growing enough and would look nice having a hopseed or similiar behind it. Your corner with the palms(look like pygmy palms) are almost covering that corner nicely. The red hibiscus will grow to a nice size but they can drop their leaves in a frost. If it were my yard, I'd put an evergreen backdrop plant where it is and put the hibiscus perhaps in front of it. That way you'll get the wall coverage permanently with some nice color in front, and creating a more layered natural look. Those little johns(I think that's what they are maybe?) could also be pulled forward a bit and put in some hopseeds, texas sage, hackberry,etc whatever you like behind it. Plants like the hopseed take very well to shaping up a bit if you find it necessary. Think texture, layering, and if covering is your goal, you can have a nice looking low maintenance landscape.
I was hoping you'd chime in as I remember your backyard project and you did things awesome. I can't confirm it but when I get on my roof to clean the solar panels, his "grass" just looks like it makes up his whole yard. It's spotty, crappy, not well maintained and I bet it goes right to the wall. We've had issues with their dog which were finally rectified (anonymously), so I am not sure how another complaint from someone (this time he'll know) is going to work. Overall they are quiet neighbors, although I don't know them. I'd hate for them to feel victimized from another complaint and start doing some really annoying things!
I like the idea of enough shrubbery to cover most of the wall though. Just not sure how long that would take, if at all, with our already planted plants in that area.
Check Google Maps satellite view and look into their back yard.
Check Google Maps satellite view and look into their back yard.
Nice call! It actually doesn't look like it but the Google Map also looks a few years old as the street view of our house has some things that aren't even there anymore in our yard. His seepage is really only in one spot on the wall but it's a big spot. Not sure why that would be. And it's fairly high on the wall for an automatic sprinkler so maybe he just waters the old fashion way, although the spot is in a consistent spot. I'm not sure why he's even watering. When I've been on the roof multiple times through the year his "grass" looks dead and patchy....like horrible.
Painted backyard block walls do look better than unpainted (if they are a neutral color) but stucco and painted does look 10X better than just painted.
I don't agree on the 10x part. At a previous home we had the block wall that faced the street stuccoed. This was a 1/3 acre lot so there was a fair amount of wall involved. We painted it to match the house and painted the block fence in the back yard as well, not putting stucco on it. The part that was stuccoed looked somewhat better than the part that wasn't, but nothing like 10 times. We painted the block in our current home and like the look.
Painted backyard block walls do look better than unpainted (if they are a neutral color) but stucco and painted does look 10X better than just painted.
Yep. Last year, we stuccoed the inside block walls for $800. Then we painted it ($350 more) with the best Sherwin Williams paint to match the house and it looks fantastic.
Our neighbor added dirt to the side walls (extra from the pool) years ago and we get seepage water issues after big rains. The stucco guys treated it before application. The the painters put on some "stuff" (I forget what) to seal the water. Both claim it won't be an issue but I have my doubts. It it doesn't hold, I will add dirt and feather it back. The total height is about 1 block along 80 foot of block. It would be a PITA but doable.
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Lots of different shades of green, textures, flowering, etc. And pick the right shrubs and maintenance is a non-issue and water use can be ultra-low.
